


Bring me to Life

by gallaxillis



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: F/F, Necromancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:34:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25662169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gallaxillis/pseuds/gallaxillis
Summary: I'm sorry for the title....the meme was there and I had to take the opportunity.Ok. So this is going to be a weird one, but hey, it’ll be fun.In this world, there was never an apocalypse. Now, Ellie is on her way to attend college to study Biology. Ironically, she has an affinity with Necromancy - a lost science. Her adoptive father, Joel, has taught her to keep her abilities in check/hidden, afraid that more horrific things will happen again. Furthermore, High School friends Jesse and Dina are on their way to the same university. Glad to have the comfort of her hometown pals with her, Ellie prepares herself to take on the world and, as much as she tries to resist, what lies under tombstones.Oh yeah, a phat crush on your roommate doesn't help matters either.
Relationships: Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 50





	1. Chapter 1

She remembered the graduation party was small, just how she wanted it. Ellie only invited close-knit friends and family to spend her time with. In the backyard, Joel and Uncle Tommy grilled up a feast for everyone, filling the air with the smell of smoky charcoal and burgers. Of course, Jesse and Dina showed up but rarely spoke to each other the entire afternoon. Ellie had assumed there was trouble in paradise, but she managed to evade any awkward exchanges. There was no need to tangle herself in that mess, no matter her feelings. The trio would continue to be around each other throughout college, so she couldn’t mess things up with them. 

Plus, Dina and she planned to be roommates. No need to make that weird tension between them any weirder, right? 

Except, it did get weirder. 

A month after the Grad Party, Jesse and Dina broke up. After that, the trio rarely hung out together for the rest of the Summer. Just as Ellie was getting used to being by herself, she met Kat, an Art major, at an orientation camp for Dune University. Ellie’s plan wasn’t to get deeply involved with anyone, but Kat offered a sincere comfort that she needed. After finding out they lived pretty close to each other, the two frequently hung out for the rest of the Summer.

“That’s a nasty bite mark on your arm. What dog did you piss off?” Kat said one night while they were hanging out. 

“What, this?” Ellie asked, stretching out her right arm. She revealed the deep, dark mark on her arm. She didn’t mind showing Kat, but the true story behind it wasn’t something she wanted to share with her at the moment. “Yeah, I might’ve messed with the wrong mutt. Doesn’t seem like it’ll fade anytime soon.” 

“No kidding. Uh, part of it looks...burnt?” Kat questioned, examining her arm with furrowed brows. 

“Look, dogs really don’t like me,” Ellie said. 

Kat fell silent and stared at the wound, deep in thought. Ellie pulled her arm away as Kat abruptly turned to grab something from her backpack - a tattoo gun, “Check it out. Bought this for cheap off a friend. How about a tattoo to make that mark, uh, let’s see, prettier?” 

“Rude, but ok, sure,” Ellie said and paused to look at her wound, remembering how she hoped that the chemical burn would burn away any physical reminders of past mistakes. Instead, like a curse, the scars seemed to stubbornly stick to her skin. Although she knew Kat knew she was hiding something, Ellie appreciated that Kat didn’t pry too much. True to her artistic nature, she was going to make this mark mean something different. Ellie liked that about her. 

Kat pulled out a paper to sketch on, “Any ideas on a design?”

“Lemme think about it,” Ellie said. She watched her new friend, maybe more or maybe not, pick up a pen and prepare. Sure, she still needed time to figure out her feelings about Kat, but she could admit that she enjoyed hanging out with her. “So hear me out -- can you draw moths?” 

Kat chuckled in response, “You’re a strange one, Ellie.” 

Fall Semester

Now, she stood at the door of her dorm, holding a large cardboard box in her arms filled with her belongings. In front of her, Joel was fixing together a nightstand beside her bed. He looked up, “That’s the last of it all, right?”

“Sure is,” Ellie said and set her stuff down. She looked around, noticing Dina’s belongings already making up the other half of the room. Her stomach dropped, this meant Dina could walk in at any second. While they did hang out sometimes in groups, the two barely hung out or talked during the Summer, especially after Ellie told Dina about Kat. Ellie cursed under her breath, there was no need to be scared of a friend, which she was pretty sure they just were. Ellie couldn’t afford to read into anything. For instance, the times she caught Dina stare or the way the two linger around each other sometimes. Naw, no way. These were just friend things. 

“Kid, this dorm looks pretty alright, don’t you think?” Joel said, grinning as he stepped back from his work. Ellie nodded. She couldn’t have done this without him. The thought scared her, how was she supposed to do this college thing without him? “It’s a little small if you ask me, but I reckon you’ll make it work.”

“Mhm.” 

“Plus, you and Dina’s decorations go super well together. Your bland, black bedding matches Dina’s cutesy tapestry and-”

“Ok, weirdo, it’s time for you to leave,” Ellie said, giving Joel a playful look to hide her nervousness about, well, everything. She apparently failed, as Joel gave her a kind look. “I’m going to be ok, Joel.” 

“I know you will,” Joel said, smiling at her. “You’re stronger than you know.” 

Ellie smiled back. Their relationship endured their ups and downs, but Joel was the person that mattered most to her. Now, she could no longer have museum trips or movie nights with her favorite person. He would be miles away from her. She sighed heavily, suppressing a sob in her throat. She struggled to get out her next words without crying, “I’m going to…..miss you….so much, old man.” 

“I’ll miss you too, kid,” Joel said and pulled her into one of his bear hugs. As Joel let go, he then held her by the shoulders. “Now, Ellie, listen to me. I’m a couple hours away so if you ever need a weekend away, you have me to go to.”

Ellie nodded, watching his face. Suddenly, his expression darkened, a look that was familiar in an uncomfortable way, “Ellie, you have to promise me you won’t….you won’t do anything that’ll get you into trouble. We can’t have anymore...” 

“What, underage drinking?” Ellie said, despite knowing now wasn’t the time to joke. Joel’s look grounded her once more. She knew exactly what he meant: no necromancy. With that, she looked away, hanging her head, “I understand what you mean. I’m not going to...try anything again. I’m here to study, and I promise I’ll make you proud.” 

“You already make me proud,” Joel said, then hugged her again. Finally, he started moving towards the door. “I’ll see you later.” 

He waved a final goodbye and headed out the door. Ellie’s chest tightened with the realization that she was truly on her own.

\--

There were still things to do, but procrastination was a skill of Ellie’s. She sat on her bed, looking at the plants by the window, which belonged to Dina. She glanced at the locked door, then back at the array of succulents before her. 

It wouldn’t hurt to practice a little bit in the privacy of her own room.

Ellie walked over to the window then picked a plant to try on. Cupping her hands, she conjured a small amount of dark, ghostly energy between her palms. In controlled movements, she circled her hands around the energy until it formed into a dense ball. She flicked her right wrist towards one of the plants, directing the energy towards it. Upon impact, the plan withered, the leaves blackening and shrinking.

Now, the trickier part. After letting out a long breath, Ellie faced both open palms towards the plant. She needed to be still. With eyes closed and breathing slowed, she sunk deeper into a state of complete calm. Suddenly, the same black energy gradually flowed out of the plant and back to her palms. She winced as the energy pressed into her skin, but didn’t open her eyes until the energy fully absorbed within her. Finally, she felt the last remaining bit fade in and opened her eyes. The plant fully restored, looking healthier than before Ellie messed with it. 

Throughout this, she hadn’t noticed the door open. 

“Ellie?” 

Shit. Dina.


	2. Kept in the dark

Dina’s POV

What did she just see? 

“Hey, Dina,” Ellie said, quickly walking away from the window towards her bed to sit down. Nonchalantly, the auburn-hair girl looked at her, but Dina could’ve sworn she saw a flash of anxiety on her face. “What have you been up to?”

“I was just touring the campus and….” Dina shook her head. “Ellie, did that plant just die and come back to life?” 

“What are you talking about?” Ellie asked, raising an eyebrow. 

Great, Dina thought. I distance myself from her and of course, I have to seem crazy as our first day as roommates. It’s whatever, I can fix this. She shut the door behind her and walked across Ellie to her own side of the room, “Nevermind, anyway, I see you’ve settled in. Quite the decor you have. It really-” 

“I know you’re being sarcastic,” Ellie said. “That box right there has my cool stuff and then I’ll be outshining your side of the room.” She pointed to the cardboard box on the floor, the last thing she needed to unpack.

“Oh, really? Well, let me help you dazzle up the place, then,” Dina said and sat by the cardboard box, examining the items within. “Correction: let me help nerd the place up.” 

“You’re soooo funny,” Ellie said, hopping off her bed to kneel beside the cardboard box. 

“Psht, and you’re so defensive. I actually enjoy what’s in here,” Dina said softly, then pulled out an astronaut figurine as well as a robot one. “Like these. They’re very charming.” 

“Hey! Those are special editions! I’m gonna have to clean your fingerprints off of them,” Ellie grumbled, snatching the objects away from her. She stood up and set them on her desk. “So, are you gonna sit there and insult me or actually help out?” 

“For sure, for sure,” Dina said, trying to control the smile on her face. She couldn’t help but tease or, perhaps more accurately, lightly bully Ellie, who always kept up such a cool demeanor. Dina would say that it was out of deep affection, but she wasn’t sure if she could tell Ellie that. “Imma put your comics up somewhere…... Where?” 

“Put them on the shelf by my desk,” Ellie said while hanging up a poster on the wall near her bed. 

“Woah, you need help with that?” Dina said, quickly putting the comics up so she could help her out. 

“Actually, yeah. Just hand me some of those sticky tabs...” Ellie said. 

“Sure thing,” Dina said. She grabbed a few tabs then handed them to her. She stood up on Ellie’s bed beside her, sticking a few tabs on the wall so to help her out. As they stood in close proximity to each other, Dina felt the familiar intense energy between them, a feeling she tried so hard to avoid this Summer. She thought it would’ve gone away, but it didn’t. With that, she felt the impulse to speak again and ease the tension. “Soooo...How are you?” 

“Pretty okay,” Ellie said. Dina sighed, sensing that she was holding back something. Oh well, she wasn’t gonna pry….too much, anyways. 

“I assume Joel already left,” Dina said. “Well, your posters are looking good.”

“So nice all of a sudden?”

“Oh, shush,” Dina said, lightly shoving Ellie aside. “I’m serious. They look really cool. You’ve always had an eye for this kinda stuff.”

“Thanks,” Ellie said. A silence stood between them for a moment. It’s been a while since they shared an intimate moment like this, and they both knew it. Abruptly, Ellie broke the ice. “You never talked to me about your breakup with Jesse...Why?” 

Dina averted her eyes elsewhere, “I didn’t think you’d, uh….” Oh shit. 

“You didn’t think I’d what?” Ellie asked, leaning closer. Dina felt the heat rush to her face, overwhelmed to a point her brain told her to evacuate from the bed in order to evade the combined sorts of tension she was feeling. 

“Care to know, I guess? I don’t know, I didn’t want to burden you with my business,” Dina said. She watched as Ellie got down and walked closer to her with a concerned look on her face. “But if you want to know, Jesse and I had been on autopilot for a while. We tried to force the pieces back together, but that just made us more bitter towards one another...” 

She looked at Ellie’s face, searching for a hint of feeling. Ellie only sighed, “I get it. Just, the weirdness between us sucked, okay? I thought that I lost you.”

“I’m sorry I pushed you away. That fact that I hurt you despite not wanting to hurt you makes me angry with myself. Especially since I-” Dina paused, catching herself before she let heavier words slip. Dumb, Dina, she thought. No, she couldn’t flood Ellie with that much feeling yet. “I….just...care deeply for you, Ellie. And if anything, we’ll be the far opposite from distant now.” 

“I guess you’re right,” Ellie shrugged. “So, enough of that, what do you have today?”

“A few meetings and such. I already was hired for a journalism internship just by walking through the door. Cool, right?” Dina said, starting to spiral with the things to do. “But hey, do you wanna meet up with Jesse and I to tour campus some more and walk our classes tonight?” 

Dina realized the moment she asked, she had added a bit of weirdness to the room. Ellie couldn’t seem to meet her eye, “Yeah, uh, sure.” 

“Jesse and I are still good friends, by the way,” Dina said, unsure if she was making the situation worse or not. Oh well. “Plus, having a guy around while walking around campus at night seems safe. Even if Jesse pisses me off sometimes, he’s a good guy. Plus, he’s excited to see you again I bet.” 

Ellie smiled slightly, “Yeah. Missed that guy.” 

Ok, maybe that made it less weird, Dina thought, giving Ellie a nod as she packed a few things in her small backpack. She spoke again, “I’ll see you tonight. Meet us at the library - I’ll be leaving a meeting around then. Or, if you feel safer about it, we can come to fetch you at the dorms?” 

“No, I’ll meet you guys there,” Ellie said. 

“Ok, see ya,” Dina said, walking out the door. Ok, so maybe she did make things weirder. 

\---

Ellie’s POV

Well, that got weird again very fast. 

Ellie reviewed the moments before in her head and decided that she was more confused than before. There was a feeling she got only around Dina, but she wasn’t sure what to do about it. Besides, it seemed like Jesse and Dina might get back together. Hell, Ellie still had yet to talk about Kat to Dina.

-Bzt-

Ellie checked her phone. Speak of the devil. 

Hey, want to meet in the dining hall for dinner? If I have to go sit in there by myself and get pity looks by random strangers, I will personally hex you...

Ellie chuckled to herself. She enjoyed her, as Kat made for amusing company; however, Ellie failed to find that emotional connection with her that she and Dina seemed to share. Still, Kat made the effort to hang out with her, and Dina hasn’t been great about that. She grabbed her wallet, making sure her Student I.D was in there and then walked out the door.

The cafeteria was buzzing with new freshmen, all eager to explore the vast dining options. Ellie scanned her card to get in, then let her eyes wander around the room in search of Kat. She finally found her sitting by herself at a bar area, typing away at her computer. 

“Hey, Kat,” Ellie said, pulling a chair up beside her friend. “What’s up?”

“Eating, bitch,” Kat laughed. “Anyways, I’m doing ok. Wanna grab food?” 

“Sure thing.”

The two ventured through the maze of the dining hall, picking out a variety of food. Ellie fell victim to her eyes being hungrier than her stomach, which she failed to realize until they returned to their seats. 

“Ok, now I think this place is the reason for the Freshman-15,” Ellie said, mowing down one of five slices of pizza.

“Says the athlete,” Kat said, rolling her eyes. The two laughed, talking about their classes and anticipations for the Fall Semester. Kat talked about the clubs she planned to attend and Ellie realized she had yet to really get involved in the community. She struggled enough with school, and Ellie assumed she would need lots of time to keep up with her studies. 

“Ok, you should do an IM sport,” Kat said. “You were a D1 basketball player, right? Any women’s IM team would love to have you!” 

“D1 in a small-town high school, mind you. I didn’t go to a big, pretentious school like yourself. So, I’m not sure,” Ellie shrugged. 

“Joel was the one that got you into the sport in the first place. Do I need to call him up and convince you? C’mon, you need to pepper in some fun stuff. That’s what college is all about!” 

Ellie sighed, “Ok, maybe I’ll try it. Anyways, I better finish up. I’m walking around campus with some friends.” 

“Oh, who with?” Kat asked. 

“Uhh, Dina and Jesse,” Ellie said. Although Kat didn’t eye-roll, Ellie felt like she mentally did. “Look, I know I complained to you a lot about them, but things are looking up, I swear. Dina and I talked today through some issues we had.” 

“Well, that’s good and all, but remember that you’re in University now. You don’t have to stick by old high school friends. It’s ok to spend time with new friends, ya know,” Kat said. She closed her laptop. “Hell, you and I clicked on orientation day. Imagine the other people we are gonna click with.” 

“You’re right,” Ellie said, scooping up the last remaining bits of food on her plate. “Though I guess there are some people in life you stay tethered to, no matter what.” 

“I guess,” Kat shrugged. 

Ellie put her plate up, waved a last goodbye to Kat, and headed towards the library.


End file.
